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Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to [#permalink]
 24 Aug 2009, 14:38
Question Stats:
52% (01:48) correct
47% (00:46) wrong based on 10 sessions
Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits caused by the desire to be as thin as possible.(A) Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits caused by the desire to be as thin as possible. (B) Good eating habits sometimes fail to be maintained by young female ballet dancers and gymnasts caused by desiring to be as thin as possible. (C) Because they desire to be as thin as possible, good eating habits are sometimes not maintained by young female ballet dancers and gymnasts. (D) Because they desire to be as thin as possible, young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits. (E) Young female dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits because they desire to be as thin as possible. Kaplan says answer is D, I think the answer is E. Here's what Kaplan has to say, which I don't understand: The modifier is misplaced here. What is caused by the desire to be as thin as possible? Not good eating habits, though that's the impression you could get from (A), and not the ballet dancers and gymnasts, though that's the impression you could get from (B). And who or what desires to be as thin as possible? Not good eating habits, though you could get that impression from (C) or (E), both of which use the passive voice unnecessarily and confusingly. The answer is (D), in which pronoun reference and the placement of modifiers is perfectly clear. A side question: do posting this information here for discussion break the copyright law? I suppose not, as I am not reproducing or distributing the content, rather putting just a question up for discussion.
Last edited by izing on 24 Aug 2009, 20:00, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
24 Aug 2009, 17:01
I went with D prior to reading the OA.
I see what you mean with E though. It seems grammatically sound to me.
Anyone care to elaborate on E?
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
24 Aug 2009, 18:31
I also went with with 'E' as in this case pronoun reference seems much clearer to me.
Starting the sentence with Because seems odd to me.
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
24 Aug 2009, 20:03
dolly12 wrote: I also went with with 'E' as in this case pronoun reference seems much clearer to me.
Starting the sentence with Because seems odd to me. Exactly. Starting the sentence with because makes sentence comprehension difficult. It also breaks the sentence in two as you have to use a comma. Does anybody understand the explanation Kaplan provided, or is it only me?
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 00:59
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E looks fine but when it is compared to D (which is 100% clear), 'they' in 'E' can refer to habits, although logically, no one would think so.
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 03:43
izing wrote: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits caused by the desire to be as thin as possible.A) Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits caused by the desire to be as thin as possible. B) Good eating habits sometimes fail to be maintained by young female ballet dancers and gymnasts caused by desiring to be as thin as possible. C) Because they desire to be as thin as possible, good eating habits are sometimes not maintained by young female ballet dancers and gymnasts. D) Because they desire to be as thin as possible, young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits. E) Young female dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits because they desire to be as thin as possible. Kaplan says answer is D, I think the answer is E. Here's what Kaplan has to say, which I don't understand: The modifier is misplaced here. What is caused by the desire to be as thin as possible? Not good eating habits, though that's the impression you could get from (A), and not the ballet dancers and gymnasts, though that's the impression you could get from (B). And who or what desires to be as thin as possible? Not good eating habits, though you could get that impression from (C) or (E), both of which use the passive voice unnecessarily and confusingly. The answer is (D), in which pronoun reference and the placement of modifiers is perfectly clear. A side question: do posting this information here for discussion break the copyright law? I suppose not, as I am not reproducing or distributing the content, rather putting just a question up for discussion. IMO, D is better than choice than E. In E, pronoun "they" is ambigious. Its the position of "they" that creates problem. However, in D, "they" has a confirmed antecedent "young female ballet dancers and gymnasts". This is because the clause "Because they desire to be as thin as possible" is a modifier clause that modifies the subject "young female ballet dancers and gymnasts". Hence "D" seems better choice.
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 04:27
bhanushalinikhil wrote: izing wrote: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits caused by the desire to be as thin as possible.A) Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits caused by the desire to be as thin as possible. B) Good eating habits sometimes fail to be maintained by young female ballet dancers and gymnasts caused by desiring to be as thin as possible. C) Because they desire to be as thin as possible, good eating habits are sometimes not maintained by young female ballet dancers and gymnasts. D) Because they desire to be as thin as possible, young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits. E) Young female dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits because they desire to be as thin as possible. Kaplan says answer is D, I think the answer is E. Here's what Kaplan has to say, which I don't understand: The modifier is misplaced here. What is caused by the desire to be as thin as possible? Not good eating habits, though that's the impression you could get from (A), and not the ballet dancers and gymnasts, though that's the impression you could get from (B). And who or what desires to be as thin as possible? Not good eating habits, though you could get that impression from (C) or (E), both of which use the passive voice unnecessarily and confusingly. The answer is (D), in which pronoun reference and the placement of modifiers is perfectly clear. A side question: do posting this information here for discussion break the copyright law? I suppose not, as I am not reproducing or distributing the content, rather putting just a question up for discussion. IMO, D is better than choice than E. In E, pronoun "they" is ambigious. Its the position of "they" that creates problem. However, in D, "they" has a confirmed antecedent "young female ballet dancers and gymnasts". This is because the clause "Because they desire to be as thin as possible" is a modifier clause that modifies the subject "young female ballet dancers and gymnasts". Hence "D" seems better choice.
Please elaborate..
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 04:48
gmataspirant2009 wrote: [quote="bhanushalinikhil
IMO, D is better than choice than E. In E, pronoun "they" is ambigious. Its the position of "they" that creates problem. However, in D, "they" has a confirmed antecedent "young female ballet dancers and gymnasts". This is because the clause "Because they desire to be as thin as possible" is a modifier clause that modifies the subject "young female ballet dancers and gymnasts". Hence "D" seems better choice. I could not understand your logic. You are saying position of "that" in E is ambiguous. Whatever logic you applied to reach this conclusion is also applicable to option "D". More ever, a sentence starting with "because" is somewhat awkward and there was a way to more precise sentence as in option "E".
Please elaborate..[/quote] I know it can get confusing. Look closely. As I mentioned, in D, "that" is a part of the modifying clause. Infact, the sentence can also be written as "Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts, because they desire to be as thin as possible, sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits." Option E is indeed highly precise but with a very subtle error. Hope this helps. Again whatever I say is only my opinion.
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 06:11
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izing wrote: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits caused by the desire to be as thin as possible.A) Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits caused by the desire to be as thin as possible. B) Good eating habits sometimes fail to be maintained by young female ballet dancers and gymnasts caused by desiring to be as thin as possible. C) Because they desire to be as thin as possible, good eating habits are sometimes not maintained by young female ballet dancers and gymnasts. D) Because they desire to be as thin as possible, young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits. E) Young female dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits because they desire to be as thin as possible. Kaplan says answer is D, I think the answer is E. Here's what Kaplan has to say, which I don't understand: The modifier is misplaced here. What is caused by the desire to be as thin as possible? Not good eating habits, though that's the impression you could get from (A), and not the ballet dancers and gymnasts, though that's the impression you could get from (B). And who or what desires to be as thin as possible? Not good eating habits, though you could get that impression from (C) or (E), both of which use the passive voice unnecessarily and confusingly. The answer is (D), in which pronoun reference and the placement of modifiers is perfectly clear. A side question: do posting this information here for discussion break the copyright law? I suppose not, as I am not reproducing or distributing the content, rather putting just a question up for discussion. My Pick is D. 'they' in D refers to young athletes , but 'they' in E can refer to 'eating habits ' also. this 'they' in E is ambiguous.
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 06:21
my 2 cents
"Desire to be as thin as possible" is the modifier here
In general it makes sense to put modifier as close to the subject it modifies as possible,
so D is doing a good ob by putting this closer to dancers and gymnasts than E, which is putting modifier closer to eating habits.
I agree with the original explanation
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 07:25
Thanks everybody for help. The explanation is clear now. D it is!
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 10:09
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I looked through different english forums about the use of BECAUSE in the beginning of a sentence. and the consensus is - it is absolutely fine to start a sentence with BECAUSE.
There is a simple rule to keep in mind:
A sentence can begin with because, but you must include a second clause. For example, "Because I said so" is not a sentence. However, "Because it was raining, the baseball game was cancelled" is acceptable. A good rule to follow is that if you do not need a comma, it is probably a sentence fragment if you start with because.
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 10:24
i dont understand how 'they' can be reffered to eating habbits..it cant be????/
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 11:02
I do not understand the usage of "because" here. The two clauses need a contrast. Any one care to explain the reason of because and not although. Because they desire to be as thin as possible, young female ballet dancers and gymnasts try to maintain good eating habits. (it makes sense to me)How the desire is resulting in the failure? It needs contrast with 'although', etc.
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 11:02
rohansherry wrote: i dont understand how 'they' can be reffered to eating habbits..it cant be????/ In D the nearest noun to 'they' is 'young female ballet dancers and gymnasts', not 'eating habits'.
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 11:24
sudeep wrote: I do not understand the usage of "because" here. The two clauses need a contrast.
Any one care to explain the reason of because and not although.
Because they desire to be as thin as possible, young female ballet dancers and gymnasts try to maintain good eating habits. (it makes sense to me)
How the desire is resulting in the failure? It needs contrast with 'although', etc. the sentense sounds logical if you think of ways of pursue to be thin, and the most common (among girls) is to eat less than needed...thus failing to maintain good eating habits
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 11:29
tomirisk wrote: sudeep wrote: I do not understand the usage of "because" here. The two clauses need a contrast.
Any one care to explain the reason of because and not although.
Because they desire to be as thin as possible, young female ballet dancers and gymnasts try to maintain good eating habits. (it makes sense to me)
How the desire is resulting in the failure? It needs contrast with 'although', etc. the sentense sounds logical if you think of ways of pursue to be thin, and the most common (among girls) is to eat less than needed...thus failing to maintain good eating habits ok! I was thinking too much I guess!
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 11:30
Usually we avoid sentences that begin with "because" but in this question D is the best choice.
Problem with E is ambiguous "they"
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
25 Aug 2009, 13:47
izing wrote: rohansherry wrote: i dont understand how 'they' can be reffered to eating habbits..it cant be????/ In D the nearest noun to 'they' is 'young female ballet dancers and gymnasts', not 'eating habits'. tats wat is they reffering to and it should be...so it means it is correct
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail [#permalink]
03 Nov 2009, 07:31
I also have a hard time to choose between D and E.
But in E they seems ambiguous, and pick D.
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Re: Young female ballet dancers and gymnasts sometimes fail
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03 Nov 2009, 07:31
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